On this page: Straton

porary Nicoclcs, king of Salamis (Athen. xii. p. 531). After the conquest of Phoenicia, he was deposed by Alexander on account of the support he had given to Dareius, and his throne conferred upon Abdalonimus, a man in humble circumstances. (Curt. iv. 1. § 16 ; Diod. xvii. 47, erroneously re­ presents him as king of Tyre.) , 4. A Greek rhetorician, a friend of M. Brutus, who was present with him at the fatal battle of Philippi (b. c. 42), and having fled with him from the field, was induced to render him a last service by dispatching him with his own sword. He was subsequently reconciled with Octavian, who treated him with distinction, and to whom he rendered good service at the battle of Actium. (Plut. Brut. 52, 53.) [E. H. B.]

STRATON(ZTpfauv), literary. 1. An Athe­nian comic poet of the Middle Comedy, according to Suidas(s. v.\ who mentions his play entitled 4>ofyi|, which is, no doubt, the same as the $oivi-Ki8r;s, from which a considerable fragment is quoted by Athenaeus (ix. p. 382, e.). From the frequency with which the name of the comic poet Strattisoccurs corrupted into Straton, some distinguished scholars have supposed that the fragment in Athe­naeus should be ascribed to Strattis, and that the comic poet Straton owes his existence solely to the errors of transcribers, followed by Suidas. It has, however, been shown by Meineke, from the in­ternal evidence of the fragment itself, that it could hardly have been written by Strattis, or by any other poet of the Old Comedy; and therefore there is no reason to reject the testimony of Suidas, al­though it may be doubted whether he is strictly correct in ascribing Straton to the Middle Comedy. If the Philetas mentioned in the fragment be, as' seems very probable, the celebrated poet of Cos, who flourished about 01. 120, Straton ought rather to be referred to the New than to the Middle Co­medy. The first three verses of the fragment and the beginning of the fourth were appropriated by Philemon. (Ath. xiv. p. 659, b.)

2. The son of Arcesilaus, of Lampsacus, was a distinguished peripatetic philosopher, and the tutor of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He succeeded Theo-phrastus as head of the school in 01.123, b. c. 288, and, after presiding over it eighteen years, was succeeded by Lycon. (Diog. Lae'rt. v. 58.) He devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, whence he obtained, or, as it appears fromCicero, himself assumed the appellation of Physicus ($v<riK6s). Cicero, while speaking highly of his talents, blames him for neglecting the most ne­cessary part of philosophy, that which has respect to virtue and morals, and giving himself up to the investigation of nature. (Acad. Quaest. i. 9, de Fin. v. 5.) In the long list of his works, given by Diogenes, several of the titles are upon subjects of moral philosophy, but the great majority belong to the department of physical science.

The opinions of Straton have given rise to much interesting controversy ; but unfortunately the re­sult has been very unsatisfactory on account of the want of positive information. From the few no­tices of his tenets, which we find in the ancient

writers, he appears to have held a pantheistic system, the specific character of which cannot however, be determined. He seems to have de­nied the existence of any god out of the material universe, and to have held that every particle of matter has a plastic and seminal power, but with­out sensation or intelligence; and that life, sensa­tion, and intellect, are but forms, accidents, and affections of matter. Some modern writers have regarded Straton as a forerunner of Spinoza, while others see in his system an anticipation of the hypothesis of monads. He has been charged with atheism by Cudworth, Leibnitz, Bayle, and other distinguished writers, and warmly defended by Schlosser, in his Spicilegium historico-pJiilosophicurr de Stratone Lampsaceno, cognomine Physico, et athe-ismo vulgo ei tribute, Vitemberg. 1728, 4to. A good account of the controversy, with references to the writers who have noticed Straton, is given by Harless, in his edition of Fabricius. (Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 506—508 ; C. Nauwerck, de Strat. Lamps. Phil. Disquis. Berol. 1836, 8vo.)

The time of Straton has been disputed, but it ia evident that he lived in the second century of our era ; since, on the one hand, he compiled from the Anthology of Philip, who flourished at the end of the first century, and, on the other hand, he is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (v. 61), who wrote most probably at the beginning of the third century. A further indication of his date is derived by Schnei-der from his mention of the physician Capito, who flourished under Hadrian.